MONTHLY GLOBAL TROPICAL CYCLONE SUMMARY
OCTOBER, 2007
First Installment
(For general comments about the nature of these summaries, as well as
information on how to download the tabular cyclone track files, see
the Author's Note at the end of this summary.)
NOTE!!! The October summary is being issued in two installments. The
first covers all basins except the Northwest Pacific, plus contains an
extra feature.
*************************************************************************
OCTOBER HIGHLIGHTS
--> Late-season hurricane causes devastating floods in Hispaniola and
strikes a smart blow to Nova Scotia
--> Northwest Pacific basin very active with six named storms
--> Typhoon strikes northern Taiwan
--> Interesting "Med-cane" (apparently weak) affects Spain
*************************************************************************
WIKIPEDIA TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS
Short reports with satellite pictures and small-scale maps for all
tropical cyclones may be found at the following links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Atlantic_hurricane_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Pacific_hurricane_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Pacific_typhoon_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_North_Indian_cyclone_season>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007-08_Southern_Hemisphere_tropical_cyclone_season>
For some storms more detailed reports have been prepared. In those cases
I will include the specific links in the reports for the applicable
tropical cyclones.
*************************************************************************
!!!!!!!!!!!! EXTRA FEATURE !!!!!!!!!!!!
HISTORY OF THE NAMING OF ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONES
PART 3 - THE SUBDUED SEVENTIES
A. Introduction
---------------
This is the third and final installment in a series of monthly
features detailing the history of the naming of tropical cyclones in the
Atlantic basin. The early history of hurricane naming as well as the
complete sets of names used during the decade of the 1950s may be found
in the July summary, and the complete sets of names used during the
period 1960-1970 may be found in the August summary. This month's
article describes the 1970s and includes the sets of names for the
period 1971-1978. The current list of names, including both male and
female names, was initiated in 1979, but I have included the originally
drafted sets for 1979 and 1980 for the sake of completeness.
The fall of 1970 saw the establishment of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and in the spring of 1971 a new
10-year list of Atlantic hurricane names was announced. Since the
set from the older list had already been publicized for 1971, that set
was allowed to remain (with BEULAH from 1967 being replaced with BETH),
but nine more sets were drafted to be used from 1972 through 1980.
Ironically, back in the 1960s all the Pacific names had been deleted
from the list, but the new 10-year list contained just about all the
names from the Western North Pacific typhoon sets in use at that time.
As a result, August, 1972, saw the formation of both Typhoon BETTY and
Hurricane BETTY. In early September, 1977, Super Typhoon BABE and
Hurricane BABE were operating simultaneously.
For some time various women's rights groups had been critical of the
practice of using only women's names for hurricanes. In 1975 it was
announced that Australia and Fiji would begin using men's names as well
as women's names for tropical cyclones in their region, so the pressure
for NHC to follow suit intensified. In 1977 NOAA made the decision to
include men's names in the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific tropical
cyclone lists. Furthermore, NOAA relinquished some control over the
name selection process by allowing a regional committee of the World
Meteorological Organization to select the new sets of names which, in
addition to containing male names, would also include some Hispanic
and French names in order to reflect all the cultures and languages
indigenous to the cyclone basin. The new list of hurricane names
was first used in 1979 with BOB being the first male name to be
assigned to an Atlantic basin tropical cyclone (except for CHARLIE
and GEORGE, which were used in the early 1950s by virtue of their
inclusion in the old phonetic alphabet utilized in those years).
B. Sources of Information
-------------------------
The 10-year list used for most of the 1970s was obtained from an
old NOAA-published tracking chart: "HURRICANE Information and Atlantic
Tracking Chart".
C. The Sets of Names
--------------------
ATLANTIC HURRICANE NAME SETS
1971 - 1980
(An asterisk follows names that were actually assigned to storms.
The sets given below for 1979 and 1980 were never used as the current
six-year list of male and female was initiated in 1979.)
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Arlene * Agnes * Alice * Alma * Amy *
Beth * Betty * Brenda * Becky * Blanche *
Chloe * Carrie * Christine * Carmen * Caroline *
Doria * Dawn * Delia * Dolly * Doris *
Edith * Edna Ellen * Elaine * Eloise *
Fern * Felice Fran * Fifi * Faye *
Ginger * Gerda Gilda * Gertrude * Gladys *
Heidi * Harriet Helen Hester Hallie *
Irene * Ilene Imogene Ivy Ingrid
Janice * Jane Joy Justine Julia
Kristy * Kara Kate Kathy Kitty
Laura * Lucile Loretta Linda Lilly
Margo Mae Madge Marsha Mabel
Nona Nadine Nancy Nelly Niki
Orchid Odette Ona Olga Opal
Portia Polly Patsy Pearl Peggy
Rachel Rita Rose Roxanne Ruby
Sandra Sarah Sally Sabrina Sheila
Terese Tina Tam Thelma Tilda
Verna Velma Vera Viola Vicky
Wallis Wendy Wilda Wilma Winnie
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Anna * Anita * Amelia * Angie Abby
Belle * Babe * Bess * Barbara Bertha
Candice * Clara * Cora * Cindy Candy
Dottie * Dorothy * Debra * Dot Dinah
Emmy * Evelyn * Ella * Eve Elsie
Frances * Frieda * Flossie * Franny Felicia
Gloria * Grace Greta * Gwyn Georgia
Holly * Hannah Hope * Hedda Hedy
Inga Ida Irma * Iris Isabel
Jill Jodie Juliet * Judy June
Kay Kristina Kendra * Karen Kim
Lilias Lois Louise Lana Lucy
Maria Mary Martha Molly Millie
Nola Nora Noreen Nita Nina
Orpha Odel Ora Ophelia Olive
Pamela Penny Paula Patty Phyllis
Ruth Raquel Rosalie Roberta Rosie
Shirley Sophia Susan Sherry Suzy
Trixie Trudy Tanya Tess Theda
Vilda Virginia Vanessa Vesta Violet
Wynne Willene Wanda Wenda Willette
*************************************************************************
ACTIVITY BY BASINS
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (MED) - Confines of the Mediterranean Sea
Activity for October: 1 system with some subtropical cyclone features
SPANISH "MED-CANE" OF 18 OCTOBER
--------------------------------
Satellite imagery on 18 October revealed an interesting cyclonic
system in the western Mediterranean Sea just off the southeastern coast
of Spain. A very well-defined eye-like feature is evident in a 0900 UTC
visible image. While rather ominous-looking, the convection was fairly
shallow and the system was short-lived as a rotating storm with the
eye-like feature lasting only a few hours. Thanks to Julian Heming
for sending me a couple of images of this system. I had some additional
information saved on the "med-cane", but unfortunately this was lost
when my main hard drive suffered a crash in mid-May. It seems that I
recall an e-mail to the effect that the LOW moved inland into Spain and
that no strong winds were reported.
*************************************************************************
ATLANTIC (ATL) - North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico
Activity for October: 1 tropical depression
1 hurricane
3 systems with some subtropical cyclone features
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below was obtained from the
various tropical cyclone products issued by the Tropical Prediction
Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) in Miami, Florida:
discussions, public advisories, forecast/advisories, tropical weather
outlooks, special tropical disturbance statements, etc. Some
additional information may have been gleaned from the monthly
summaries prepared by the hurricane specialists and available on
TPC/NHC's website. All references to sustained winds imply a
1-minute averaging period unless otherwise noted.
Atlantic Tropical Activity for October
--------------------------------------
October, 2007, was rather quiet across the Atlantic compared with the
very active preceding month. As the month opened the remnants of
Hurricane Karen and Tropical Storm Melissa could be found in the central
and eastern Atlantic. Two tropical cyclones formed during the month.
The first of these was Tropical Depression 15, which formed on 11 October
several hundred miles to the southeast of Bermuda. The system turned
eastward, and northerly shear increased over the depression, leading to
its weakening to a remnant LOW by late on the 12th. The official TPC/NHC
report on Tropical Depression 15, written by Jack Beven, may be accessed
at one of the following links:
MS-Word http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ms-word/TCR-AL152007_Fifteen.doc>
PDF http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-AL152007_Fifteen.pdf>
The other cyclone was Hurricane Noel, which formed on 28 October
in the central Caribbean Sea a couple hundred miles southeast of Haiti.
The depression continued to strengthen and became Tropical Storm Noel
later on the 28th. Noel crossed over Haiti and the low-level center
weakened and became very difficult to track. The mid-level center
moved northward over the Atlantic and a new low-level center apparently
formed near the northwestern coast of Haiti southwest of the mid-level
center. The rejuvenated Noel turned westward and hugged the northern
coast of Cuba as it slowly strengthened. The cyclone eventually
turned northward and re-emerged into the Atlantic along the north-central
coast of Cuba during the morning of 31 October. Early the next day
Noel turned north-northeastward ahead of a mid-latitude trough that was
moving across the Gulf of Mexico. A strong burst of deep convection
formed near the center and led to the cyclone reaching hurricane
intensity at 0000 UTC on 2 November. Noel peaked at 70 kts as it
accelerated northeastward ahead of the trough.
NHC declared the system to be extratropical at 0000 UTC 3 November
while centered about 240 nm southeast of Cape Hatteras. The large,
powerful extratropical storm intensified further to 75 kts later on
3 November as it took aim on Nova Scotia. Post-tropical Storm Noel (to
use the Canadian designation) made landfall near Chebogue Point, Nova
Scotia (just south of Yarmouth) shortly after 04/0600 UTC with maximum
winds near 65 kts. The cyclone weakened further and exited the coast
of Labrador about 18 hours later, later merging with another extra-
tropical cyclone over Greenland on 6 November.
Noel produced several days of torrential rainfall across Hispaniola
and Cuba with storm totals of 25-30 inches and more in several locations.
The death toll from Noel in the Caribbean islands has been placed at
163 with another 59 persons reported missing. Primarily due to the
loss of life in Haiti, a request was made to retire the name Noel, and
at its annual meeting in April, the Region IV WMO Hurricane Committee
selected the name Nestor to replace Noel in the list of names for 2013.
Also, the names Dean and Felix were retired and have been replaced with
Dorian and Fernand, respectively.
The official TPC/NHC report on Hurricane Noel, authored by Daniel
Brown, may be accessed at one of the following links:
MS-Word http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ms-word/TCR-AL162007_Noel.doc>
PDF http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-AL162007_Noel.pdf>
The Canadian Hurricane Centre also has a report on Noel, available
at the following URL:
http://www.atl.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurricane/storm07.html>
And the Wikipedia report on Noel may be found at the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Noel>
There were three additional interesting systems which exhibited some
characteristics typical of subtropical storms, but which are not likely
to be classified officially as subtropical storms. (Most of the
following information was supplied by Jack Beven.)
(1) Gulf of Mexico LOW - During the first week of October a well-defined
and persistent circulation of subtropical origin formed over the
Bahamas and made its way westward, making landfall on the upper Texas
coast. The system never developed persistent organized convection,
but an oil rig at 122 m elevation on 4 October reported a 35-kt wind
due to the gradient between the LOW and a strong HIGH to the north.
(2) Azores LOW - A non-tropical LOW pressure system near and north of the
Azores acquired some central convection and on 6 October looked
rather well-organized. A QuikScat pass on that date showed a small
wind field somewhat characteristic of a subtropical cyclone, but the
system is not likely to be classified as a subtropical storm due to
the lack of longevity and the fact that it remained embedded in a
cold air mass. This system was formally designated as Invest 95L
on NRL's website.
Following is a link to an image of this system:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/gibbs/image/MSG-2/VS/2007-10-06-12>
(3) Canary Islands LOW - A possible subtropical cyclone formed under an
upper-level LOW north of the Canary Islands during the second week of
October, and on the 10th looked well-organized when some central
convection formed. However, the system was probably too baroclinic
to be classified as a subtropical storm but further analysis is
needed to be sure. There was also no obvious evidence that any winds
of 35 kts were associated with the LOW.
Following are a couple of links to images of this system:
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/gibbs/image/MSG-2/VS/2007-10-10-15>
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/gibbs/image/MSG-2/IR/2007-10-10-18>
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST PACIFIC (NEP) - North Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 180
Activity for October: 2 tropical storms **
** - one of these formed in September and was covered in the summary
for that month
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below was obtained from the
various tropical cyclone products issued by the Tropical Prediction
Center/National Hurricane Center (TPC/NHC) in Miami, Florida (or the
Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) in Honolulu, Hawaii, for
locations west of longitude 140W): discussions, public advisories,
forecast/advisories, tropical weather outlooks, special tropical
disturbance statements, etc. Some additional information may have
been gleaned from the monthly summaries prepared by the hurricane
specialists and available on TPC/NHC's website. All references to
sustained winds imply a 1-minute averaging period unless otherwise
noted.
Northeast Pacific Tropical Activity for October
-----------------------------------------------
At the beginning of October, Tropical Storm Juliette was moving
northwestward about 300 nm off the Pacific coast of Mexico. The storm
peaked at 50 kts on 30 September and began to weaken on 1 October, and
was downgraded to a remnant LOW the next day. The report on Juliette
may be found in the September summary. Also, the official TPC/NHC
report on Juliette, co-authored by Jamie Rhome and Robert Berg, may
be accessed at either of the following links:
MS-Word http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ms-word/TCR-EP142007_Juliette.doc>
PDF http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-EP142007_Juliette.pdf>
The only tropical cyclone to actually form during the month of
October was Tropical Storm Kiko. Kiko formed from a tropical wave which
had left the west coast of Africa on 26 September and had spawned
Tropical Storm Melissa in the far eastern Atlantic on the 28th. The
southern portion of the wave continued westward, crossing Central America
into the Eastern North Pacific on 8 October. By 0000 UTC 15 October the
system had acquired enough deep convection to be classified as a tropical
depression. TD-15E was briefly upgraded to tropical storm status at
1200 UTC 16 October while centered about 375 nm southwest of Manzanillo,
but only six hour later visible imagery depicted an exposed LLCC with
convection located 75 nm southwest of the center. Kiko regained tropical
storm intensity the next day and moved east-northeastward toward the
southwestern Mexican coastline as it was embedded within the south-
westerly flow on the south side of the ITCZ.
A ridge developed over Mexico and Kiko turned toward the northwest on
the 19th in response to this. Shear also decreased and the cyclone began
to slowly strengthen, reaching a peak intensity of 60 kts at 1800 UTC
on the 20th while centered about 150 nm west-southwest of Manzanillo.
Kiko began to gradually weaken thereafter due to the effects of
increasing southerly shear and a more stable environment. The system
weakened to a depression on the 23rd, although it continued to produce
occasional bursts of deep convection until it had degenerated to a
remnant LOW on the 24th.
The official TPC/NHC report on Tropical Storm Kiko, written by
Michelle Mainelli, may be accessed at either of the following links:
MS-Word http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ms-word/TCR-EP152007_Kiko.doc>
PDF http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-EP152007_Kiko.pdf>
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST PACIFIC (NWP) - North Pacific Ocean West of Longitude 180
Activity for October: 1 tropical depression **
4 tropical storms ##
2 typhoons ++
1 super typhoon
** - classified as a tropical depression by JMA only
## - two of these not treated as tropical storms by JTWC
++ - one of these formed in September and was covered in the summary
for that month
NOTE!!! The Northwest Pacific basin will be covered in the second
installment of the October summary.
*************************************************************************
NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (NIO) - Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea
Activity for October: 1 depression **
1 tropical cyclone of gale intensity ++
** - no warnings issued on this system by JTWC
++ - not upgraded to cyclonic storm status by IMD
Sources of Information
----------------------
Most of the information presented below is based upon tropical
cyclone warnings and significant tropical weather outlooks issued
by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center of the U. S. Air Force and
Navy (JTWC), located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Occasionally some
information may be gleaned from the daily tropical weather outlooks
and other bulletins issued by the Indian Meteorological Department
(IMD), which is the World Meteorological Organization's Regional
Specialised Meteorological Centre (RSMC) for the basin.
The reported maximum sustained winds (MSW) are based on a 1-minute
averaging period, which is used by all U. S. civilian and military
weather services for tropical cyclone warnings. For synoptic
observations in the North Indian Ocean region, both 10-minute and
3-minute average winds are employed, but IMD makes no attempt to
modify the Dvorak scale for estimating tropical cyclone intensity;
hence, a 1-minute average MSW is implied. In the North Indian Ocean
basin JTWC usually does not initiate warnings until a system has
become well-organized and likely to attain tropical storm status
within 48 hours.
North Indian Ocean Tropical Activity for October
------------------------------------------------
One tropical cyclone (per JTWC's warnings) formed in the North Indian
Ocean during October, but the system was treated as a deep depression by
IMD. A short report on this system follows. Another system was tracked
as a depression by IMD, although no warnings were issued by JTWC. A
satellite fix bulletin from JTWC located a tropical LOW in the south-
central Bay of Bengal a couple hundred miles west of the southern
Andaman Islands at 1200 UTC on 26 October. Over the next couple of days
the system moved generally in a west-northwesterly direction and
intensified slightly. JTWC assigned a Dvorak rating of T2.5/2.5 at
26/1800 UTC but did not initiate warnings. IMD upgraded the LOW to
depression status late on the 27th when it was located about 325 nm
east-southeast of Chennai, India. As the depression approached the
coast of India on the 28th, it began to weaken. The 29/0300 UTC Tropical
Weather Outlook from IMD stated that the system had weakened into a
well-marked low pressure area and was situated over the west-central
and southwestern portions of the Bay of Bengal and over northern
coastal Tamil Nadu and south coastal Andhra Pradesh. According to the
Wikipedia report, the depression caused heavy rains accompanied by strong
winds in Chennai, resulting in 15 casualties. This system, incidentally,
was identified as Invest 99B on NRL's website.
My printed notes indicate that I'd planned to mention an earlier Bay
of Bengal system, identified as Invest 96B, in mid-October. All infor-
mation I'd saved on this system was lost when my hard drive crashed in
May. Given that I'd planned to cover the system, it seems likely that
there were some Dvorak ratings of T2.5 or at least T2.0 from one of the
agencies. However, IMD did not upgrade the system to depression status
nor did JTWC issue any warnings. If anyone has any information on this
invest area and will forward it to me, I will include it when I send the
completed October summary to the archival websites.
One final system that should be mentioned--The remnants of former
Typhoon Hanna/Lekima crossed over southeastern Asia and reached the
upper reaches of the Bay of Bengal in early October. After reaching
the Bay the system began to re-organize and possibly would have regained
tropical cyclone status had it remained over water for a longer period
of time. Following is an image of how the system looked at landfall on
7 October (link sent courtesy of Julian Heming):
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/gibbs/image/MET-7/IR/2007-10-07-12>
TROPICAL CYCLONE
(TC-05A)
27 October - 4 November
-------------------------------------------
A satellite fix bulletin issued by SAB located a LLCC about 620 nm
south-southwest of Mumbai, India, at 0230 UTC 27 October. The system
drifted west-northwestward as it slowly intensified. JTWC issued their
first warning on TC-05A at 28/0000 UTC, locating the center approximately
630 nm southwest of Mumbai. Steering currents were weak and the system
meandered about in the same general area for several days. TC-05A
reached its peak intensity of 45 kts at 1800 UTC on the 29th when it was
centered about 600 nm southwest of Mumbai. Around this time the system
commenced a slow west to west-northwesterly motion which gradually
accelerated with time. The cyclone began to weaken on the 30th and
winds had dropped to 35 kts by 30/1800 UTC. JTWC issued their final
warning on TC-05A at 0000 UTC on 2 November with the system located
about 250 nm northeast of Socotra Island. The remnant LOW then turned
to a west-southwesterly course and continued to maintain its identity
as it traversed the western Arabian Sea. The final satellite fix
bulletin issued by JTWC, at 0300 UTC 4 November, placed a weak 20-kt
LLCC just off the Somalian coastline about 185 nm due south of the Horn
of Somalia. (Note: The IMD never classified TC-05A any higher than the
deep depression stage (30 kts); hence, no name was assigned.)
No damage or casualties are known to have resulted from this system.
(Report written by Gary Padgett)
*************************************************************************
SOUTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN (SWI) - South Indian Ocean West of Longitude 90E
Activity for October: 1 tropical disturbance **
** - no warnings issued on this system by JTWC
Sources of Information
----------------------
The primary sources of tracking and intensity information for
Southwest Indian Ocean tropical cyclones are the warnings issued by
the Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre on La Reunion Island, part of
Meteo France (MFR), and the Regional Specialised Meteorological Centre
for the basin. However, tropical cyclones in this region are named
by the Sub-regional Tropical Cyclone Advisory Centres in Mauritius and
Madagascar with longitude 55E being the demarcation line between their
respective areas of naming responsibility. The La Reunion centre only
advises these agencies regarding the intensity of tropical systems.
References to sustained winds imply a 10-minute averaging period unless
otherwise stated.
In the companion tropical cyclone tracks file, I occasionally
annotate positions from warnings issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning
Center (JTWC) of the U. S. Air Force and Navy, located at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, when they differ from MFR's coordinates by usually
40-50 nm or more. The JTWC warnings are also the source of the
1-minute average maximum sustained wind values included in the
tracks file. Additionally, information describing details of
satellite imagery and atmospheric circulation features included in
the narratives is often gleaned from the JTWC warnings.
Southwest Indian Tropical Activity for October
----------------------------------------------
Meteo France La Reunion (MFR) tracked its first numbered tropical
disturbance of the 2007-2008 season in mid-October. The system was never
accorded tropical depression status, nor were any warnings issued on the
system by JTWC. The LLCC was located by a JTWC satellite fix bulletin
roughly 300 nm east-northeast of Agalega at 0600 UTC on 11 October. The
system moved southwestward and the first MFR bulletin on Tropical
Disturbance 01 was issued at 12/0600 UTC, locating the center about
225 nm east-northeast of Agalega. The system was relocated about one
degree to the south six hours later, then moved west-southwestward,
passing about 50 nm south of Agalega as it weakened on the 13th. The
final MFR bulletin was issued at 13/1200 UTC. The highest 10-min avg
MSW estimated by MFR was 25 kts. Dvorak estimates from both JTWC and
SAB reached T2.5/2.5 late on 12 October and early on 13 October,
implying that the system could have briefly reached minimal tropical
storm intensity in terms of a 1-min avg MSW.
*************************************************************************
NORTHWEST AUSTRALIA/SOUTHEAST INDIAN OCEAN (AUW) - From 90E to 135E
Activity for October: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
NORTHEAST AUSTRALIA/CORAL SEA (AUE) - From 135E to 160E
Activity for October: No tropical cyclones
*************************************************************************
SOUTH PACIFIC (SPA) - South Pacific Ocean East of Longitude 160E
Activity for October: 1 tropical depression
South Pacific Tropical Activity for October
-------------------------------------------
The first numbered tropical depression of the South Pacific 2007-2008
season occurred in October. The information I had saved on the system
was lost in the aforementioned disk crash, so I am relying on the
short Wikipedia report here. An area of disturbed weather formed south-
east of Papua New Guinea late on 16 October. On the 17th RSMC Nadi
designated it as Tropical Disturbance 01F. The system became better
organized and was classified as a tropical depression later that day.
However, shear increased and the system began to weaken and had
degenerated into a tropical LOW by the 19th. Based on this sketchy
information, it seems likely that this short-lived depression occurred
just east of 160E, since Papua New Guinea lies well to the west of that
meridian. I did not compile a track for this depression since there
was no evidence of winds reaching 30 kts.
*************************************************************************
SPECIAL FEATURE - SOURCES OF TROPICAL CYCLONE INFORMATION
The purpose of this section is to list some websites where many and
varied types of tropical cyclone information are archived. Many readers
will know about these already, but for the benefit of those who don't,
I wanted to include them.
(1) Aircraft Reconnaissance Information
---------------------------------------
Various types of messages from reconnaissance aircraft may be
retrieved from the following FTP site:
ftp://ftp.nhc.noaa.gov/pub/products/nhc/recon/>
Information regarding how to interpret the coded reconnaissance
messages may be found at the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/reconlist.shtml>
Links are also included to websites with further information about the
U. S. Air Force 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the NOAA Air-
craft Operations Center.
(2) Archived Advisories
-----------------------
All the advisory products (public advisories, forecast/advisories,
strike probabilities, discussions, various graphics) issued by TPC/NHC
are archived on TPC's website. For the current year (using 2004 as an
example), the archived products can be found at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2004/index.shtml>
Links to tropical products archives for earlier years are available at
the following URL:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastall.shtml>
JTWC warnings for past storms are archived on the NRL Monterrey website:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html>
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen.
I am not aware at the moment of any other TCWC which archives all
its tropical cyclone warning/advisory products for public access, but
if I learn of any, I will add them to this list.
(3) Satellite Imagery
---------------------
Satellite images of tropical cyclones in various sensor bands are
available on the NRL Monterrey and University of Wisconsin websites,
courtesy of Jeff Hawkins and Chris Velden and their associates. The
links are:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/tc_pages/tc_home.html>
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/tropic.html>
On the NRL site, the link to past years can be found in the upper left
corner of the screen. For the CIMSS site, a link to data archives is
located in the lower left portion of the screen.
Additional tropical satellite imagery, along with looping ability for
composite microwave imagery for the Western Hemisphere north of the
equator, can be found at:
(1) For the Eastern North Pacific:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-epac.html>
(2) For the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea:
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-atl.html>
(4) Cyclone Tracking Information
--------------------------------
There is a U. S. Navy site that tracks tropical cyclones at 6-hourly
intervals which often includes pre and post-advisory positions. The
link to the site is:
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/atcf_web/doc_archives/>
Steve Young has compiled many of these tracks onto a single webpage
which is very user-friendly:
http://home.earthlink.net/~shy9/tc1.htm>
I'm sure there are other sites with available imagery available, and
as I learn of them, I will add the links to this list.
*************************************************************************
EXTRA FEATURE
In order to shorten the amount of typing in preparing the narrative
material, I have been in the habit of freely using abbreviations and
acronyms. I have tried to define most of these with the first usage
in a given summary, but I may have missed one now and then. Most of
these are probably understood by a majority of readers but perhaps a
few aren't clear to some. To remedy this I developed a Glossary of
Abbreviations and Acronyms which I first included in the August, 1998
summary. I don't normally include the Glossary in most months in
order to help keep them from being too long. If anyone would like to
receive a copy of the Glossary, please e-mail me and I'll be happy
to send them a copy.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: This summary should be considered a very preliminary
overview of the tropical cyclones that occur in each month. The cyclone
tracks (provided separately) will generally be based upon operational
warnings issued by the various tropical cyclone warning centers. The
information contained therein may differ somewhat from the tracking and
intensity information obtained from a "best-track" file which is based
on a detailed post-seasonal analysis of all available data. Information
on where to find official "best-track" files from the various warning
centers will be passed along from time to time.
The track files are not being sent via e-mail. They can be retrieved
from the archive sites listed below. (Note: I do have a limited e-mail
distribution list for the track files. If anyone wishes to receive
these via e-mail, please send me a message.)
Both the summaries and the track files are standard text files
created in DOS editor. Download to disk and use a viewer such as
Notepad or DOS editor to view the files.
The first summary in this series covered the month of October,
1997. Back issues can be obtained from the following websites
(courtesy of Michael Bath, Michael V. Padua, Michael Pitt, and
Chris Landsea):
http://australiasevereweather.com/cyclones/>
http://www.typhoon2000.ph>
http://mpittweather.com>
ftp://ftp.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/pub/landsea/padgett/>
Another website where much information about tropical cyclones may
be found is the website for the UK Meteorological Office. Their site
contains a lot of statistical information about tropical cyclones
globally on a monthly basis. The URL is:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/tropicalcyclone>
TROPICAL CYCLONE REPORTS AVAILABLE
JTWC now has available on its website the Annual Tropical Cyclone
Report (ATCR) for 2006 (2005-2006 season for the Southern Hemisphere).
ATCRs for earlier years are available also.
The URL is: http://metocph.nmci.navy.mil/jtwc.php>
Also, TPC/NHC has available on its webpage nice "technicolor"
tracking charts for the 2007 Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific
tropical cyclones; also, storm reports for all the 2007 Atlantic
and Eastern North Pacific cyclones are now available, as well as
track charts and reports on storms from earlier years.
The URL is: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov>
A special thanks to Michael Bath of McLeans Ridges, New South Wales,
Australia, for assisting me with proofreading the summaries.
PREPARED BY
Gary Padgett
E-mail: garyp@alaweb.com
Phone: 334-222-5327
Kevin Boyle (Northwest Pacific)
E-mail: newchapelobservatory@btinternet.com
Simon Clarke (Northeast Australia/Coral Sea, South Pacific)
E-mail: scla4255@bigpond.net.au
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